Carnal Zen is my forum to explore all the ideas, contradictions, religions and credit card bills that pepper my life.
Emotions can be difficult to articulate. In my dating life, the first ”L” word has been delivered in a myriad of mishaps induced by alcohol or in the middle of a fight. Once, it was scribbled into a christmas card and read silently inches from family because the words were just too cumbersome.
My grandmother knows and prepares your [...]
I think 30 is when you transition from young adult to adult. In exactly 10 days I will become an adult. I am one of those people who celebrates all month and my wonderful friends and family play along. Since this is a big one, I was thinking I wanted to honor it in a special [...]
My sweet italian Grandmother is an accomplished cook. She taught me how to make marinara sauce exactly like hers. It was an honor. Eventually I made substitutions of my own with fresh ingredients and deviated from her coveted but unmeasured recipe. Fundamentally, we learn by mimic. It’s why swearing like a sailor in the presence of [...]
I grew up in New York. It was not the ghetto. We had multi-generational family pizzerias around every corner and good neighbors with keys to our side door. I loved it there though I didn’t know it until I left. Still, it was New York and certain survival techniques were taught before I could remember: [...]
Once upon a few years ago, I decided I wanted to learn to surf. I enlisted the help of the guy I’d been dating who was more than happy to suit me up in a borrowed rash guard and take me on the water. Eagerly, I rubbed sex wax on the board and [...]